


Perchance to Drabble

by estepheia



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: M/M, Male Slash, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25674829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estepheia/pseuds/estepheia
Summary: Pure melancholy...
Relationships: Rupert Giles/Ethan Rayne
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Perchance to Drabble

**Author's Note:**

> Most of these were written as advent calendar drabbles, some as birthday gifts. They appeared between 2005 and 2012 in my LJ, but I decided to give them a home here as well.

**Time of Lead** Set during S2 - PG

Earning Giles’s forgiveness was harder than turning lead to gold. Ethan knew, he’d tried both.

Trying to blow Giles after Randall’s funeral had been a mistake, he knew that now, but it’s not like Ethan had had any experience saying sorry. He’d never wanted, never needed anyone’s forgiveness before. He’d considered himself a free man: free to go where chance took him, without looking back.

How do you say you’re sorry to a man who cannot bear the sight of you?

You don’t.

All you can do is treat every punch, every kick, as the caress that might have been.

for shapinglight  
**Cold**

It doesn’t happen often. The dreams are not all nightmares; they don’t always end with Ethan’s blood splattered across the wall. Yet, even the good ones leave Giles aching with regret.

This time, he jerks awake with crimson images scattering like crows. Christmas morning. The house is silent. Maybe he should have accepted Buffy’s invitation.

He ought to get up, give Perceval his extra hay and apples, and a pat on the neck, but in his heart it’s too cold for Christmas.

Suddenly, a blue light sneaks into the bedroom. A locator spell!

“Anybody home? Ripper?”

The cold is gone.

for wickedfox, Ethan/Giles - post-NFA - PG  
**Maybe**

Ethan rarely goes out of his way to see Ripper, but he keeps tabs on the Council. Same thing, these days. Crippled by the First, the Council is fading fast, in spite of Rupert’s best efforts, and in spite of the mini-Buffys who lately roam this plane. Untrained. Easy pickings for all the nasties that go bump night and day.

Chaos is ascendant, a well-oiled machinery – too well-oiled, Ethan can’t help thinking. Where’s the fun in chaos when there’s no order left to disrupt?

Ethan watches the distant horseman approach, unwilling to contemplate a world without Giles in it. Maybe…

Giles/Ethan - PG-13 - set during S5 - angst/character death  
**Two Minus One**

The bell never jingles but a sudden chill causes Giles to look up from his book-keeping.

"Hello Ripper." Spoken in that mellow tone, the name sounds like a caress.

"Ethan." A rush of adrenaline and everything feels two sizes too small: the tie, the suit, his life. Ethan always had that effect on Giles. "So, you gave them the slip."

"The slip? I guess you could call it that."

"What do you want?"

"They put my magic into a shiny kidney dish. You won't be seeing me again," Ethan smiles wistfully. Then he's gone, and Giles realizes he's utterly alone.


End file.
